


Con te voglio invecchiare

by poppyfields13



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Honeymoon, Italy, M/M, Rome - Freeform, Skinny Steve, Travel, Vacation, Venice, basically just fluff, some religious stuff because Renaissance art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 20:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11043516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppyfields13/pseuds/poppyfields13
Summary: Steve and Bucky go to Italy for their Honeymoon.





	Con te voglio invecchiare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinzelda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinzelda/gifts).



> Happy Birthday to my good friend Tinzelda! I hope you have a wonderful day and you enjoy this fluffy piece of nonsense I wrote for you. ♥

“Finally,” Bucky muttered when the pilot announced they were preparing to land. He looked down at Steve who was sleeping on his shoulder. He’d felt sick for most of the flight but had somehow managed to sleep for the last couple of hours. Bucky was sad to wake him, but he shook Steve’s arm. “Steve, we’re here.”

Steve’s eyes blinked and he squinted up at Bucky. “We are?”

“Almost. Getting ready to touch down.” Steve yawned and moved away to stretch his arms. Bucky reached out to rub Steve’s neck. “Feeling any better?”

Steve shrugged. “A little.”

“You’ll feel better once you’ve had a proper night’s sleep.”

They made it through customs and collected their luggage without incident, then met the driver who was taking them into the city. It was a shared transfer, so they waited for the other passengers and then followed the driver to his van. Bucky hung back and helped him load everyone’s suitcases into the back before slipping into the seat beside Steve, smiling at him reassuringly. 

The driver then drove out of the airport parking lot like a complete maniac. It was dark out, but from the street lights Bucky could see the other passengers glance at each other with apprehension, and he heard several frightened squeaks from the woman in front of him. “Did you fasten your seat belt?” Steve asked him. Bucky nodded.

The driver sped along the freeway with one arm draped behind the passenger seat headrest, and the other just barely resting on the steering wheel while he used his fingers to text on his phone. When he came off the freeway and had to stop at a traffic light, Bucky was convinced he was going to crash right into the car in front of them. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut and was jerked forward as they came to an abrupt stop leaving only an inch to spare. 

“Excuse me, sir?” Steve said. “Don’t you think you should be following the speed limit?” The driver’s response was to angrily gesticulate and, presumably, curse in Italian as he drove off again. Bucky cringed. He literally saw his life flash before his eyes. He imagined the newspaper article: ‘Young American couple perish on their honeymoon’. They hadn’t even made it to the hotel.

He turned to Steve. In the dark he couldn’t see Steve’s face clearly, but he knew Steve must have had a greenish tinge to his skin. He hadn’t been well before they got in the damn van. This was the last thing he needed. He grabbed Steve’s hand and squeezed it tight. He handed him a bottle of water but Steve waved it away. “It’ll be okay,” Bucky said. “Just breathe.”

If there was one consolation to the reckless driving, it was that they were in the city in no time. Unfortunately, they were the last passengers to be dropped at their hotel. Bucky suspected it was punishment for Steve’s questioning the driver’s judgement. From the look on Steve’s face, he probably suspected that too, so Bucky didn’t mention it. He did, however, start ranting about it once they were safely in their hotel room. “We should complain about this to the shuttle company. Jesus Christ, I felt like I was Harry Potter on the Knight Bus.”

That made Steve crack a smile. He lay down on the bed and Bucky put his hand on his forehead. “I’m sorry our honeymoon has already been a nightmare, Steve.”

Steve took his hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s okay. We’re here now. It’ll be better tomorrow.”

“I love you.”

Steve closed his eyes. “Love you too.”

♥

Bucky was happy to see Steve had his appetite back at breakfast, but he still thought they should take it easy that day. “We’ll just explore around here this morning, then maybe do something after lunch?”

Steve agreed.

It was at least a hundred degrees when they went outside and it had only just turned ten o’clock. They went into a few shops but decided to look around a bit more before buying anything. “Oooh, gelato,” Bucky said when they walked past a gelateria.

“You just had breakfast!” Steve said.

“So? It’s too hot. I need gelato.” He walked inside and peered down at the different flavours. “Do you want some?” Steve shook his head. “You can have some of mine,” Bucky said. He ordered the biggest size with two different flavours: stracciatella and raspberry. He took a bite as soon as they were outside again. “Mmm.” He scooped some onto his little plastic spoon and aimed it at Steve’s face. Steve gave him an exasperated look but he accepted, leaning forward to suck the gelato from the spoon.

“It’s good,” he said, smiling.

“We can go back if you’ve changed your mind,” Bucky said.

Steve shook his head. “Maybe later.”

They walked past more stores as Bucky ate his gelato, then went inside when they needed a break from the heat. There was a fan blasting inside, so Bucky hung around that while Steve looked at some vases. Bucky was inspecting a miniature glass goldfish when a shop assistant appeared at his shoulder, asking him in Italian if he needed any help.

Bucky shook his head. “Uh grazie… sto solo dando un’occhiata.”

The shop assistant then continued to speak to him in Italian, and Bucky couldn’t understand a single word. He’d tried to learn some Italian before they left for the trip, and he thought he’d got a grasp of the essentials, but his brain had gone completely blank. “Uh, Inglese?” he asked.

The shop assistant scowled at Bucky and turned away muttering to himself in Italian. Although Bucky couldn’t understand the words, he had a fair idea of what was being said about him. And he definitely understood “Ugh, Americano.”

He looked around desperately for Steve, wishing to get the hell out of there, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Steve!” he hissed. “Steve!” 

“Bucky?” He appeared from behind a shelf of pottery.

“We should go.”

“Why?”

“That guy over there hates me.”

Steve sighed. “Okay,” he said, without asking for an explanation. 

Once they were outside Bucky relayed the story, and Steve started laughing. “Why is this funny?” Bucky demanded.

“Everyone else has spoken to us in English. But of course _you_ get the one person who won’t.”

“Hmph. It’s your fault. You left me.”

“I think you can survive being away from me for two seconds.”

Bucky grinned. “Never.”

♥

After lunch, they took the metro to the Spanish Steps. “It’s a lot more crowded than in the movies,” Bucky said, but they walked up the steps and found a place to sit and people watch. Bucky thought it would be romantic, but he was sweating his ass off, and he was afraid of being pickpocketed.

When Steve had finished the picture he was drawing of the scene they walked to the Trevi Fountain. “Wow,” Steve said when they turned the corner and it came into view. There were a lot of people around, but Bucky squeezed them into a space in front and made Steve turn so he could take a selfie of the two of them. He held Steve against his chest and leaned his chin on Steve’s shoulder as he took the photo. He gave Steve a squeeze before letting him go. 

“Want to throw coins in?” Steve asked. He looked adorably excited about it. 

“Okay, but only one,” Bucky said.

“Only one?”

“Yeah. I read about it. Two coins means a new romance, which I don’t want, obviously. Three means marriage, which I already have.” He grinned and poked Steve in the ribs. “But one coin means you’ll return to Rome. So I’ll throw in one coin.”

“Okay. Me too,” Steve said, digging around in his pockets. 

Bucky made Steve wait until he was ready to take a photo of him. “Okay, ready? One… two… three!” He snapped the photo as the coin flew over Steve’s shoulder. Steve laughed when Bucky showed him the picture, but it quickly turned into a yawn. 

“Maybe we should go back now,” Bucky said.

“Sorry, Buck,” Steve said. “I guess I’m jetlagged.”

Bucky kissed him on the forehead. “It’s fine. I don’t mind. Let’s go have a nap. I can’t think of anything better than snuggling up with you right now.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s all you want to do,” Steve said with a laugh.

Bucky cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you could possibly be suggesting.”

Steve grabbed his hand. “Come on.”

♥

The next day they explored the Colosseum in the sweltering heat. Steve was impressed by the architecture, but Bucky could tell he didn’t really enjoy hearing about what went on in the arena during the Roman Empire, so they didn’t spend too much time there. They decided to head over to Palatine Hill and find some shade.

As they walked towards the Arch of Constantine they were accosted by a giant man in a gladiator costume. “Do you want a photo?” he asked. 

“Sure, why not?” Bucky said as Steve said, “No, thank you.”

Bucky laughed and handed Steve his phone. “Take one of me?” Bucky posed with the man, flexing his muscles and making a duckface.

When Steve had taken the picture the gladiator held out his hand. “Ten euros.”

Bucky gaped at him. “ _Ten_?” The man just moved his hand closer. Bucky sighed and handed the money over. “Boy, am I a sucker or what?” he said to Steve as the gladiator walked off. 

Steve was mad. “He should have been up front about the price.”

Bucky shrugged. “Oh well. I would’ve only spent it on gelato. I really don’t need any more gelato.” He patted his belly. That made Steve roll his eyes. They continued walking towards the entrance to Palatine Hill. 

“Hey, Steve, wanna hear a joke?”

“No.”

“A Roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers, and says, ‘Five beers, please.’” He laughed, and Steve smiled too like Bucky knew he would.

“Caesar what I did there?”

“Stop,” Steve said, but he gave Bucky a fond look. He definitely wouldn’t have married Bucky if he couldn’t tolerate a bad pun now and again. 

They spent almost two hours walking through Palatine Hill, viewing Circus Maximus, and then the Roman Forum. They sat in the shade for a while and ate a snack, but when they were done with their stroll Bucky still informed Steve that he needed gelato. 

“I thought you said you shouldn’t have any more,” Steve said.

“Steve. We just walked around that place for two hours in a hundred degree heat. I changed my mind.”

Steve smirked. “Okay, okay. You deserve it.”

“Hell yeah, I do.” He chose a flavour he hadn’t tried yet—peach, and Steve had cherry.

He held out his for Steve to try and Steve did the same, although he gave Bucky an indignant look at the huge bite he took. “Is there any left?” he said when he took it back. 

“Aw, sorry, Steve. I’ll make it up to you.” He leaned over and whispered in Steve’s ear. Steve’s cheeks flushed pink, and it wasn’t from the sun.

♥

They took the metro back to the Spanish Steps and walked towards the Pantheon. Along the way they found many souvenir shops and decided to buy some presents. Bucky chose a bunch of tacky gladiator souvenirs for their friends while Steve was in charge of the more tasteful presents for Bucky’s parents. He ran his fingers over a Murano glass necklace. “My mom would have liked this,” he said. Bucky took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Steve looked up at Bucky and smiled. “She would have liked you.”

Steve still had the ability no one else did—to make Bucky speechless. He opened his mouth several times before settling on, “I hope so.”

He had his voice back when they approached the Pantheon. “Whoa. It’s huge!” There was a big crowd waiting to get inside, but only a certain amount of people were allowed in at a time, so once they were inside the crowd wasn’t too bad. And it was cooler. 

The first thing Steve wanted to find was Raphael’s tomb, where he quietly stood for several moments. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” he said.

“What is?”

“Being this close to the remains of someone so influential. So talented. I thought it would feel different. More significant. But at the same time, I’m still overwhelmed.”

Bucky hadn’t really thought about it, but when Steve said that, it made sense. “It is strange,” he said. 

They walked around the circumference of the building, and Steve continued around a second time while Bucky wandered to the middle of the room and spent an embarrassingly long time trying to take the perfect selfie with the oculus above him. The angle just wasn’t very flattering to his chin. Eventually, Steve came over and took a better photo for him. 

They found some more shops as they walked towards the Piazza Navona, and went inside, if only for the air conditioning. They went into a more upmarket souvenir shop than the ones they had been looking at before, where there was glass vases, pottery, jewellery, and hefty art books. 

Steve immediately went to the books and opened one up. Bucky stood beside him, not really interested in anything, until one book caught his eye. A book titled ‘Ancient Erotic Art’. He picked it up and turned it for Steve to see. “I need this book,” he said. Steve glanced at it and gave Bucky a ‘Really, Buck?’ look. He walked away to look at some vases. 

Bucky flicked through the pages. “Hey, Steve. A lot of these pictures are from the brothels in Pompeii.” 

Steve appeared at his shoulder again. “Keep your voice down,” he hissed. 

Bucky laughed and showed Steve one of the pornographic pictures. “Good for research,” he said. 

Steve’s face went red. “I’m going to wait outside.”

Bucky bought the book and found Steve looking in the window of the shop next door. “You actually bought it?” he said, when he noticed Bucky carrying the heavy plastic bag.

“Yup.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Oh, come on, Rogers. I know you’re dying to take a look at it. For art purposes, of course.” Steve stuck his nose up in the air looking unamused and dignified, which just made Bucky laugh. Bucky knew what Steve was really like behind closed doors. Steve cracked up too. 

They took photos of the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona and ate more gelato. Then they walked along the Tiber River, and managed to find some more trinkets to buy at the stalls there. Steve said the old books and antiques made him think of pictures he’d seen of the stalls set up along the Seine, and Bucky wished he could take Steve to Paris as well. 

Steve looked like he knew what Bucky was thinking. “One day,” he said. “We’ve got the rest of our lives.”

♥

Steve was sitting at the desk in their hotel room, looking out the window and drawing, while Bucky sat cross legged on the bed looking at his new book. “Well, buying this was a mistake,” he announced.

Steve turned his head. “Why?”

“Because now I’m just really horny.”

Steve smirked. “That’s a problem?”

“Only if you don’t get your butt over here.”

Steve grinned and practically jumped onto the bed. “Let me see,” he said, reaching for the book.

“I knew you wanted to look at it. Pervert.”

Steve whacked him with a pillow. Bucky tackled Steve down and kissed him with everything he had.

♥

Bucky didn’t know much about art. Certainly not as much as Steve did. And he hated all that weird abstract stuff that didn’t make any sense. But he liked _this_ kind of art. He liked pictures of people. He’d known Steve had always wanted to visit Italy, so he had booked the trip as a surprise. Steve had been annoyed at first that their honeymoon destination wasn’t something they had decided on together. He was worried Bucky hadn’t taken his own interests into consideration. Bucky had to assure him a million times he wanted to go to Italy. Nothing could’ve been truer as he stared up at _The School of Athens_. It was like he was right there and Plato and Aristotle were about to stumble into him and ask his opinion on their debate.

Luckily, they had pre-booked a tour for the Vatican because the line seemed to lead around the whole city. With the tour, they’d got in with no trouble, and although Bucky thought their tour guide droned on and on—Steve was listening intently though—it really didn’t matter with all the amazing things they had to look at. The Raphael Rooms were his favourite so far. 

Steve’s favourite was the Sistine Chapel. Something he’d dreamed of seeing in person his whole life. Unfortunately, they were squashed in with barely any room to move, and Steve was getting annoyed that people were taking photos when they shouldn’t be. “They said no photography,” he whispered to a man twice his size. Bucky braced himself for an unfriendly response but the man looked contrite and put his camera away. Bucky saw several other people taking photos too, but didn’t point it out to Steve.

“Hey,” he whispered—there wasn’t supposed to be any talking either—“Isn’t this amazing?” He couldn’t believe he was seeing such famous paintings in real life. Paintings so iconic people recognised them even if they didn’t know where they came from. The Creation of Adam. The Fall of Man. But Bucky liked the _Last Judgment_ a bit more for some reason. It kind of creeped him out, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. He wasn’t a very religious person, but he was affected by it. Like he was staring right at God. 

Steve tilted his head back again and smiled. “Yeah.” They stared and stared until their necks hurt. When Bucky looked back at Steve, he had tears in his eyes. “Thank you for bringing me here, Buck,” he whispered. 

Bucky would have kissed him if they weren’t in such a holy place. He almost forgot, and nearly did. “You’re welcome,” he whispered back.

They had free time away from their boring guide to go into St. Peter’s Basilica, which they spent a large portion of admiring the _Pietà_. They then explored the rest of the enormous basilica, with the ornate artwork, and the tombs. They stopped in front of the monument for Queen Christina of Sweden. “She was a lesbian, you know,” Bucky said.

“Shhh. That’s just a rumour,” Steve whispered.

Bucky was doubtful. “People always ignore these things. Michelangelo was gay too.”

“Bucky.”

“I’m just saying.”

They walked into the middle of the basilica and marveled at the way the crepuscular rays beamed magically through the windows of the rotunda, as if they were a cloud. And then Bucky marveled at Steve, who was in pure awe, and he’d never felt so much love before in his life. 

He followed Steve around as he spent every second he had _looking_. Bucky would have followed him anywhere. As Steve leaned over to inspect some tiles, Bucky was very tempted to give his butt a squeeze. He hoped it wouldn’t take them too long to get back to their hotel. 

When Steve stood up and turned to find Bucky staring at him, his eyes narrowed. “Bucky! We’re in a church!” he hissed.

“What did I do?”

“I know that look. I know what you’re thinking.”

Bucky gave him a lopsided grin and shrugged sheepishly. Steve sighed and gave him the ‘You drive me crazy but I love you’ look, and they made their way outside.

♥

The Rome part of their trip was over and they were taking a train to Venice. They had to walk to Roma Termini dragging their suitcases along behind them—Bucky’s already weighed down with tchotchkes. When they were in the station, they walked around for ages trying to find where their train was, without any luck. They had stopped, and Bucky was just about to leave his suitcase with Steve so he could quickly run around to look for it when a man approached. “I’ll help you!” he said.

“No, thank you,” Bucky said firmly. He wasn’t falling for that after the Colosseum incident. And he’d just seen some unsuspecting tourists beside a train with some locals who had their hands out. He waited for the man to go, not wanting to leave Steve alone until he was gone. Then he determinedly walked along the platform until he finally found their train. 

“It’s all the way down there,” he huffed to Steve when he finally got back. “Thank God we got here in plenty of time.”

Steve just nodded and started pulling his suitcase again. When they got on the train, he didn’t put up a fight when Bucky grabbed it to put in the rack above their seats. It probably weighed almost as much as Steve did. 

Bucky thought Steve should probably take the seat facing forwards in case he got sick, so he slipped into the backwards seat. It was almost a four hour journey to Venice so they had books with them, but Bucky noticed Steve was mostly staring out the window.

He knocked Steve’s foot under the table between them to get his attention. Steve knocked back, smiling. “You okay?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah. More than okay.”

“Anything interesting outside?”

“It’s all interesting.” 

That made Bucky smile. He loved that Steve was enjoying the trip so much. 

When the train arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia they took a water taxi to their hotel. It was too far for them to walk with their suitcases, especially with the many bridges they’d have to cross. Bucky watched in terror as their suitcases were loaded onto the boat over a huge gap of water. It would be a nightmare if their luggage was dropped into the canal. “Did that not freak you out?” he whispered to Steve, once he’d taken a seat beside him.

Steve smiled. “I’m sure they know what they’re doing, Buck.”

Bucky looked at him in astonishment. “How did I become the uptight one? What’s happening to me?”

Steve laughed as he gazed out at the old lemon and pink buildings they sailed past. “We’re on vacation. Relax.”

Bucky thought about that when they approached the reception desk at their hotel. “Bonjourno.”

“Name?” the man asked.

“Buck Rogers,” he said, and nudged Steve with his elbow. 

Steve ignored him. “Uh. It should be under James Barnes,” he said. The man gave them a bored look and checked his computer. Then he collected an old fashioned key from a hook on the wall behind him. 

They took the tiny rickety elevator up to the second floor and found their room. It was like they’d been transported back in time. “When do you think they last decorated this place?” Bucky asked. “Eighteen seventy?”

“I like it. It’s got character,” Steve said.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t have bed bugs. Sorry, Steve. The pictures made it look way nicer.”

“Bucky, I love it. It’s romantic.” He looked like he was being sincere. Not that he ever wasn’t.

“Are you sure?”

He walked over to where Bucky was still standing by the door and wrapped his arms around his waist. He leaned up for a kiss, which Bucky happily accepted. “I’m sure,” he said when he pulled away. 

Bucky glanced at the room again. Maybe it _was_ romantic. “I wonder how squeaky the bed is?”

Steve lifted an eyebrow. “Let’s find out.”

♥

They spent the next day walking all over the quaint streets of Venice. They visited the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square, where they wandered around for hours visiting the basilica and Doge’s Palace. Bucky was lucky Steve was sensible and saved his coins because Bucky always forgot they had to pay to use the restrooms in Italy and he used all his coins to buy gelato.

When they went out for dinner that evening Bucky had an awkward time trying to dissuade their waiter from shamelessly flirting with him. The waiter was oblivious to Bucky not being interested, even with Steve positively glaring at him. Five years ago, Bucky would have loved it. Now he was embarrassed. He brought his hand up to his face, trying to draw attention to his wedding ring. Evidently, the waiter did not notice. Or perhaps a wedding ring wasn’t enough of a deterrent. 

“Do you want some wine?” The waiter asked. He placed his hand on Bucky’s shoulder and leaned close as he pointed out the selection on the menu.

“Uh, sure. Do you want wine, Steve?”

“No, thanks,” he said frostily.

Bucky quickly pointed at something on the wine list and handed it back to the waiter. “Thanks,” he said and turned his attention away.

“You’re welcome,” he said, somewhat lasciviously. 

“Sorry,” Bucky said when the waiter finally left with their orders.

Steve shrugged as if to show Bucky it didn’t bother him. Bucky wasn’t fooled. “I suppose you can’t help being so handsome people have to throw themselves at you,” Steve grumbled.

“Everyone except you! It took me ages to woo you.”

“You didn’t woo me. I came to the decision I wanted you completely on my own.”

Bucky laughed and took Steve’s hand in his own. He leaned down to kiss his fingers, right where his ring was. “Well, you don’t need to be jealous. You’re the only one for me. You stole a pizza my heart.”

♥

Steve relaxed back into Bucky’s arm as the gondolier pushed away from the landing. Bucky could tell Steve had been worried about showing too much PDA in a conservative country, but they hadn’t run into any problems so far, and he’d held Bucky’s hand almost all day as they’d explored more of Venice.

The setting sun occasionally shone between buildings as they sailed through the narrow canals. They glided under bridges, and passed gondolas filled with other couples staring at each other dreamily. The heat had subsided and a gentle breeze tickled their faces. Bucky pulled Steve closer and turned to kiss him on the temple. “Too bad I already asked you to marry me,” he said. “Or I’d be doing it right now.”

“And I’d say yes,” Steve said. He reached towards Bucky’s jaw and angled it so he could kiss him on the lips. Bucky eagerly responded and Steve pulled away laughing when Bucky’s tongue poked at his lips. 

Bucky’s whole head seemed to follow as if his lips were never meant to be apart from Steve’s. But Steve gently nudged at his chest, so he settled for a quick nibble on Steve’s neck. “God, I love you. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Buck.” Steve still got so embarrassed when Bucky said stuff like that. Bucky looked forward to seeing him blush over it for the rest of his life. Steve shuffled even closer and rested his head on Bucky’s shoulder. They didn’t say anything else, but they held each other close for the rest of the ride.

♥

Bucky toed off his shoes and collapsed onto the bed. He watched as Steve shuffled around the room, picking out his outfit for the next day, and getting ready to take a shower.

“You know, I’m just going to say something that might be kind of criminal but…”

Steve looked up, alarmed. “What?”

“I don’t really like the pizza here.”

“Me neither!” Steve said, laughing. “I didn’t want to say anything though. You seemed to be enjoying it.”

“Well, yeah, it was okay. It was pizza. But New York pizza is better.”

“Maybe we just aren’t choosing the best places to eat it?”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t know, man. The pasta has been good. I don’t know what’s up with the pizza.”

“I think their pizza is what pizza’s supposed to be though, and Americans made it into something different.”

Bucky lay back and stared up at the ceiling. “Ugh, Americano!” he said. Steve threw a rolled up pair of socks at him. 

After they’d had showers Steve closed the shutter on the window that faced right into another hotel room across the alley. They took the cushions off the bed and rolled back the bedspread.

“Remind me to buy some more sunblock tomorrow,” Steve said.

“Mhmm.”

“And I know we already got a book for your dad, but I feel like we should get him something else.”

“Okay. I’m sure we’ll find something.” 

They lifted the bedspread off the bed, hung it over the back of the desk chair, and climbed under the cool sheets. Steve rolled over to kiss him. He smelled like hotel body wash. “Want to try out some more moves from that book?” he whispered. 

Bucky had been yawning and almost ready to fall asleep but his eyes sprang open and he was ready to go immediately. “I think we can come up with something of our own, don’t you?”

Steve gave him a wicked smile. “Yes. Yes I do.”

♥

The next morning, Bucky woke up earlier than Steve, and instead of snuggling closer and falling back to sleep, he got up. Which meant they headed down to breakfast much earlier than they usually would have. Steve had cereal and toast, and Bucky loaded up his plate with pastries.

“What should we do today?” Steve asked, after he’d downed a cup of coffee.

“It’s funny you should ask that. Because I have a surprise for you.”

Steve grinned. “You do?”

“You know how I got you that book about Giotto for your birthday?” Steve nodded. “Well, we’re catching the train to Padua today.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “Really? Are we going to the Scrovegni Chapel?”

“Yep.”

Steve’s mouth opened in surprise. Then he leaned over the breakfast table—sending several pastries flying—and kissed Bucky. When he pulled away, he didn’t seem to notice the other hotel guests staring at him. He only had eyes for Bucky. And Bucky had never felt more pleased with himself.

They walked hand in hand to the train station. They were a little early, but Bucky had purposely made sure they had plenty of time. He didn’t want anything to go wrong. He’d had to make reservations for the Scrovegni Chapel ahead of time because it was only available to view for fifteen minutes at a time, and they had to go into a special temperature regulated room beforehand. 

“Knock knock,” he said, after he’d checked the timetable once again. Although Steve was in a great mood that morning, he still knew better than to respond. “ _Steve_. Knock knock.”

Steve sighed. “Fine. Who’s there?”

“Venice.”

“Venice who.”

“Venice the train getting here?”

The corner of Steve’s lip quirked but he held his mouth firmly shut. Bucky shoved his index finger into his side and a laugh escaped his lips. “Bucky!” He was saved from more tickles when the train actually did arrive. 

It was a half hour train ride to Padua and then a ten minute walk to the chapel. After they had checked in Bucky’s backpack, they waited outside the chapel for their turn. They were early, and no one else scheduled to go in at the same time as them was there yet. They could see the group before them inside the air conditioned room watching a video as they waited to be let into the chapel. 

Steve let Bucky take photos of him outside the chapel as photos weren’t allowed inside. “I can’t believe you thought of this, Buck,” Steve said, as he posed awkwardly in front of the chapel, trying to follow Bucky’s complicated directions.

“Am I not the most thoughtful husband on the planet?” He liked saying that. Husband.

Steve nodded. “You’re the best. Even if you make me pose like an idiot for photos.”

“You’ll thank me one day. Or, our kids will anyway.” Steve grinned at that. 

The inside of the chapel really was amazing, though it was hard for Bucky to keep his eyes off Steve. He had pure delight on his face. 

Some of the panels were better preserved than others, but all had an interesting story. Steve spent the longest of their limited time in front of the _Lamentation_ , going back to it several times. 

“Which one do you like best?” he asked Bucky. 

Bucky pointed. “I don’t know what it’s about though.”

“That’s the _Annunciation to Saint Anne_. Mary’s mother.”

“Oh.”

“This chapel is a really early part of the Renaissance.” He said it with such reverence Bucky thought he could somehow feel exactly what Steve was feeling in that moment. Wonder, excitement, solemnity. Like just by being there he was doing something important. He wished they allowed photography just so he could capture the look on Steve’s face. When they were told they had to leave, they hung back so they were the last people out. 

Back out in the warm air Steve threw his arms around Bucky. “Thank you.” 

He squeezed Steve tight. “Oh no.”

Steve pulled back to look at him. “What is it?”

“I just realised something. I’m never going to be able to top this.”

Steve laughed. “It doesn’t matter. This is worth a thousand gifts or surprises you could give me. I’ll always remember it.”

Bucky shook his head and winked. “Me too. But one day I _will_ think of something better.”

They took a bus to Prato della Valle where they had lunch, and then they walked around looking at the stalls. Unintentionally, they had gone to Padua on market day. Bucky found a glass goldfish that was much better than the one he’d seen in Rome where the shop assistant had yelled at him, so he bought it to go with his growing collection of souvenirs. They found another gift for his dad too. 

By the time they made it back to the train station, they were worn out, but Bucky decided it was his favourite day of the trip so far. If only because it had made Steve so happy.

♥

They didn’t do much on their last day in Venice. Just walked around admiring the views, and eating delicious sweets. Bucky had gelato four times. “I just need one more before we leave,” he kept saying.

He convinced Steve to take one more gondola ride, even though it was ridiculously expensive. “Come on, it’s worth it,” he said. 

Steve smiled. “Okay.”

He made sure to take plenty of photos. He really did hope to show them to their children one day. And he knew fifty years from now he would be able to look back and know he was still just as in love with Steve as he was on their honeymoon.

♥

They settled into their seats for their flight back to New York. “Sorry we couldn’t go to more places,” Bucky said. “Florence, Milan, Pisa, the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como—”

Steve cut him off. “It was a perfect trip, Buck. We can always do those things later. But the next trip we go on will be something you want to do.”

“I told you. I wanted to come to Italy.”

“Is that only because you knew it would make me happy?”

“No.” Steve eyed him suspiciously. “Okay, that was a big part of it. But I think that’s a completely acceptable reason,” Bucky said.

Steve smiled with soft eyes. “I love you.”

Bucky beamed. “I kinda wish we’d gone to Pisa though. Just so I could run up to all the dopey people with their arms stretched out pretending they’re holding up the Tower, and give them high fives.”

Steve laughed. “C’mon, Buck. We both know if we ever went to Pisa _you_ would be one of those tourists. Making me take a million photos of you doing the exact same thing.”

“True. But that doesn’t make it any less dopey.”

“So is that where you want to go next?”

“Nah.”

“Where then?”

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment. “Disney World?”

Steve nodded. “Well, you’ll get no complaints from me.”

“I know. I could never marry someone who didn’t want to go to Disney World.”

Steve nudged him playfully, then rested his head on Bucky’s shoulder. “You had a good time though?”

“Of course I did, Steve. We could have stayed at home and it would’ve been perfect. I’m happy to be anywhere with you. But I had a great time. I promise. Even when I got ripped off by a gladiator.”

Steve chuckled. “It was a cute picture though.”

“Oh, do you think so?”

Steve poked him in the side. “Yes.” 

“And I’ve probably seen enough churches to last me a lifetime.”

Steve patted Bucky’s belly. “And eaten enough gelato for a lifetime, too.”

“Hey!”

Steve laughed. “I’m kidding.” He became quiet for a moment, then whispered, “Thank you.”

Bucky squeezed Steve close and sighed in contentment. He knew enough Italian to say, “Ti amo, Steve.”

**Author's Note:**

> [My fanfiction Tumblr](https://poppyfields13fic.tumblr.com/) and [My personal Tumblr](http://lovesdresses.tumblr.com)


End file.
